Ligaments and tendons

[AliceLily]

I think my ligaments and tendons are caught up in the ME. I've had an aching hand this last week and it feels like any repetitious use like typing on the keyboard easily causes an effect. I'm also having a longer bout of a shoulder joint that feels like it could dislocate if not careful. I also have body wide feeling of ligament, tendon soreness.

I wonder if our pain symptoms are coming from ligaments and tendons that are not as stretchy as they should be and causing pain in ME?

I still have to learn the difference between ligaments and tendons. Will try to get a grip!

What do others think? And do you have these things happening too?

 

[AliceLily]

Ok, so ligaments connect bone to bone for stability of joints restricting excessive movement and tendons connect muscle to bone facilitating movement by transmitting force from muscle to bone.

I can't get my head around that explanation for tendons. I feel like I want to reword it so I can picture it better.

 

[Kitty]

This isn't a bad picture showing how a tendon connects a muscle to a bone:



They don't half hurt when you damage them badly, and they don't heal as fast as muscle either (haven't got such a good blood supply).

The main way they get irritated is over-use injuries like your typing example, accidents, and people trying to do things for which they haven't got enough muscle strength (though sometimes they might damage their ligaments instead).

I'm prone to overuse symptoms as well, but I think it might be more to do with joint flexibility than ME/CFS. I can sit quite comfortably with my shoulder in a position that some people probably couldn't manage at all, which will cause nerve impingement and tendon strain if I try to do any work.

Unfortunately I'm an idiot, so I do. I forget I need to avoid practising playing my whistle with my right shoulder falling over, so I keep ending up with tendon strain and ulnar nerve impingement.

 

[AliceLily]

Thanks Kitty. Interesting. It doesn't help getting older either. I have to think twice about crouching down onto the floor at the library these days. Trying to haul myself up I feel like an elephant trying to get up.

 

[Kitty]

Trying to haul myself up I feel like an elephant trying to get up.

You and me both!

I knocked a lip salve off the pub table tonight, and it rolled under my chair. Trying to pick it up without either falling off the chair or knocking myself out on the table edge was a physical comedy routine that nearly rivalled Eric Sykes's The Plank.

 

[PrairieLights]

I don't know the workings or how me/cfs affects this... but I feel I am having issues in this area too.

 

[AliceLily]

I don't know the workings or how me/cfs affects this... but I feel I am having issues in this area too.

I hope we will find out more as time goes on whether our ligaments and tendons are affected by ME. Something has never felt right with mine.

 

[InitialConditions]

I think my ligaments and tendons are caught up in the ME. I've had an aching hand this last week and it feels like any repetitious use like typing on the keyboard easily causes an effect. I'm also having a longer bout of a shoulder joint that feels like it could dislocate if not careful. I also have body wide feeling of ligament, tendon soreness.

I wonder if our pain symptoms are coming from ligaments and tendons that are not as stretchy as they should be and causing pain in ME?

I still have to learn the difference between ligaments and tendons. Will try to get a grip!

What do others think? And do you have these things happening too?

I feel exactly the same. I have written about it here, I think. It's like my body cannot properly heal any injuries to soft tissue. I have issues that started 10–15 years ago that will not resolve. And, yes, any repetitive use makes things much worse. I have a problem with the soft tissue around the base of my right thumb and it has been going on for 7 years now. Typing makes it much worse.

 

[AliceLily]

I feel exactly the same. I have written about it here, I think. It's like my body cannot properly heal any injuries to soft tissue. I have issues that started 10–15 years ago that will not resolve. And, yes, any repetitive use makes things much worse. I have a problem with the soft tissue around the base of my right thumb and it has been going on for 7 years now. Typing makes it much worse.

Yes, I also have that one too with my left thumb base. It plays up every so often and boy does it hurt trying pull up pants especially. I forget to protect it.

I've had the ligament, tendon problem since I was 20 years old. This was the time that I think I got something that might have made me vulnerable to getting ME years later. It could all be connected or two different things. I personally thing it's all connected to ME but I could be wrong.

 

[Sean]

Long been my view that a much more careful and comprehensive (and unprejudiced) examination of the mechanical aspects of ME/CFS bodies and their functioning (or lack of it), with a particular eye on non-linearity, might find some good basic clues.

It is arguably the most under-investigated component of the condition, which is odd seeing as movement in general is the one of the main things we have so much trouble with.

Which is why I always say that it is important for patients to have a good chair, good bed, and good footwear. They are not fixes, not solutions. But in my experience they matter. Some of the few things that have helped.

 

[Creekside]

I'm trying to recover from tendinopathy from playing a computer game too long. I'm doing the recommended exercises, and handsawing firewood ( I think that should boost healing), but it does take time. I think in my case it's less ME-related and more just getting old.